Chapter 2

Daniel and I were together for seven years. Yet, when he turned thirty and finally inherited the Alpha title, taking control of the entire Iron Crest Pack, the Luna he chose was not me.

He held Lily’s hand, laughing and talking with her. She wore a white dress and looked so gentle, so innocent.

Lily was the daughter of the Silver Creek Pack's Alpha. Now that Daniel needed to secure his new territory, a political marriage was his best option.

I should have seen it coming.

I walked back to my quarters, completely hollowed out. My mind kept flashing back to the night we spent in the garden when I was nineteen. He had held me tight and whispered, "Elena White, I, Daniel Black, swear I will never betray you."

The night I walked in on him and Lily, I told him I was leaving. For the first time in his life, he snapped at me, his suppressed rage barely contained.

"Elena, you have to be reasonable."

But I am your fated mate!

I fought back my tears, stubbornly refusing to look at him.

We stood in a tense silence for a long time. Finally, his tone softened, and he tried to coax me. "Lily and I are just business partners. You are the only one I love. We've been together for so many years, don't you know my heart by now?"

I remained silent. He continued,

"I will make you the Beta of the pack. You will have the same power as me. You won't have to bow to anyone."

I looked at his face. It was the same face I had loved for years, but I felt absolutely no connection to him anymore.

Was this really my Daniel?

"Then can I make one request?" I asked quietly.

He let out a sigh of relief, thinking I was giving in. He quickly asked, "What is it?"

"Let my brother go. Michael White, the son of the former Alpha of Stone Creek."

He froze, and his voice hardened. "No."

I let out a cold laugh and pointed toward the door, telling him to get out.

"I will give you anything else, Elena. Just don't make things difficult for me," he said, sounding as though I was the one being unreasonable.

When Daniel annexed the Stone Creek Pack, my father died in the conflict.

I had held my father's cold, lifeless body, crying until I had no tears left. Daniel, always so stoic, had red eyes too.

I had whispered to him, "I don't have a father anymore."

He had pulled me into his arms, his lips trembling as he repeated, "Don't be scared, I'm here."

My father had fought tirelessly in the Pack Council to secure support for Daniel. In the end, Daniel couldn't even tolerate his existence.

After my father's death, Stone Creek was swallowed by Iron Crest. My brother, Michael, refused to bow to Daniel. Frictions grew between them, and they began clashing in secret.

Daniel feared that Michael’s influence would surpass his own. So, the first thing he did after becoming Alpha was frame Michael as a traitor and banish him from the territory, forcing him to become a rogue.

The victor writes the history. I didn't blame him for that.

But he shouldn't have smeared my brother's name with treason, and he certainly shouldn't have tried to wipe out the last of the White bloodline.

I looked at him with pleading eyes, throwing away all my pride.

Fine. If staying in this pack meant watching him break every single promise he had made to me, if it meant becoming the submissive woman I had always despised—I would do it.

Compared to my brother's life, what did my pride matter?

I used my submission to extract a promise from him: to spare Michael's life, let him leave the territory, and never allow him to step foot in pack lands again.

It was the first time he had seen me so broken. He stayed silent for a long time before finally whispering, "Fine."

The heavy rock in my chest finally lifted. For the first time in months, I sincerely said, "Thank you."

As long as he was alive, there was still hope.